Jordan Salt, the Managing Director at R&R Coatings, came to visit our Auto Body and Paint students to let them sample some of his products and demo some techniques. We spoke to Jordan about his progression from his apprenticeship to now being a business owner at the young age of 30.
“I started here in 2010, to do my Level 1, 2 and 3 apprenticeships in Auto Body and Paint. After I had completed my three years, I was approached by one of the managers who worked at Chesterfield College who advised me to go and get my teaching qualification. I had shown an interest in teaching, so I went to do a basic course. After that, I came to the college to do a couple of hours a week. Before I knew it, I was teaching full-time, a year after completing my apprenticeship. Things progressed fast.”
Work experience helped Jordan progress quicker and further.
“I was working in a car body shop before I did my apprenticeship, so I managed to pick up the skills quicker than most. I completed the course content quite fast but I was wanting to learn. I wanted to learn, get the qualification and go to work. That was one of the reasons I chose an apprenticeship over a full-time course.”
YouTube kickstarted Jordan’s business venture.
“Whilst I was teaching, I was into technology and online learning. I created a YouTube channel for the classes that I was teaching. I could show students the techniques I was teaching in real time at the car body shop. Where I am today flourished from my work getting noticed online by all the different companies around the world that are in the industry. I started getting job offers from the back of the videos I was creating. That’s how I ended up leaving the college.”
There are so many job roles within the industry.
“A lot of students don’t realise how many jobs there are in this industry. Students think they are going to work in a workshop all their lives but that’s not the case. I clocked onto that when I started getting these job offers from all over the place. I realised how much I could do.
The job I took was working in paint manufacturing. One of my roles was going all over the world visiting different paint manufacturers. It opened my eyes to the opportunities available. There are jobs out there where you could earn very good money.”
Now I’m one of the biggest companies in the UK for paint manufacturing.
“I was working there from 24 and then a couple of years ago I opened my manufacturing plant in Nottingham. I put everything I had into the company, got all my machinery and built the factory from scratch. Now I’m one of the biggest brands in the UK. This was all achieved within a couple of years. I’m now supplying all over the UK at age 30.
I always wanted to have my own business, I didn’t want to work for anyone and I knew that early on. I’ve always been very entrepreneurial. Year after year we have tripled in sales. We are exceeding our expectations and having to upscale every year. I have done this by going to trade shows, getting friendly with other companies in the sector and not making enemies or competitors. Networking and connections have been a big plus.”
“So the past couple of years we have done well. As a promotional car, I have brought the McLaren 720s, which we use for trade shows and marketing.
It goes to show, I started here as a student, not from money, I knew where I wanted to go and just did it. I had drive.”